July
27: At 12 noon, in more than 42* towns and cities across the
country, New Zealanders are gathering to show the Government
they want a GE-Free nation. The nationwide gatherings are
being held to mark the handover of the recommendations of
the Royal Commission ...

As the country awaited the
outcome of the Christine Rankin court battle with baited
breath, the government decided to pass the time by hosting a
conference at which it hoped to gain some ideas as to revive
New Zealand’s flagging economic growth. ...

Italian embryologist Severino Antinori, the man who enabled
a 62-year-old women to have a baby in 1994, is scheduled to
announce later this week at the National Academy of
Sciences, that he will genetically clone humans by
impregnating 200 women. ...

The New Zealand Breast
Cancer Foundation is delighted that more therapies will be
available, as appropriate, for patients with breast cancer,
says Dr Vernon Harvey, medical oncologist and member of the
Foundation's medical advisory committee.

A
high school student Scoop reader has responded to my
Catching the Knowledge Wave column asking that I explain
what I meant when I wrote, "imagination is more important
than knowledge". Maree Howard responds.

"Calls by the School
Trustees Association and politicians to maintain the status
quo and keep cannabis illegal overlook the complete and
utter failure of prohibition," Deborah Morris said on behalf
of the Coalition for Cannabis Law Reform today.

"Green
Telecommunications spokesman Sue Kedgley's call for the
Government to impose fascist control over Telecom's private
property is both outrageous and ignorant" says Libertarianz
Leader Peter Cresswell.

Winz Chief Executive
Christine Rankin starred in a Michael-Jackson type
performance at a senior manager's conference, dressed in an
extravagant costume and descending from the ceiling on a
flying rig said Alliance spokesperson on Social Welfare,
Grant ...

EDITORS NOTE: Scoop is today commencing publication of
satirical articles from the Babylon Express satirical
newspaper. Those easily offended and seldom amused should
avoid this content. See the author's note at the end of this
page for more information ...

What Mr Brash
said yesterday at the Knowledge Wave Conference was so
blindingly obvious that his speech should have been
described as boring and predictable. Instead it is met with
anger and outrage. In a country which purportedly upholds
free speech ...

You can only surf the
knowledge wave if you have received an invitation and can
afford to buy the surfboard. That's the message the
government is sending to current and prospective students
with this week's high-profile Knowledge Wave conference
...

Libertarianz Leader Peter
Cresswell described Phill Goff's announcement that the
Government has appointed the Ambassador of the Republic of
Korea to be accredited as Ambassador to North Korea as "No
surprise, since the Government is already ...

2001: An Anarchist Odyssey
will be held in Christchurch over Labour Weekend (October
20-21). This two-day national anarchist conference will
feature workshops and discussions on a variety of topics,
loosely based around the theme of local responses to
capitalist ...

Public
inquiries into controversial technology have a mixed history
in New Zealand. Having proposed in 1973 a public
investigation of nuclear power, I was then sufficiently
encouraged by the proceedings of the Royal Commission on
Nuclear Power that in 1977 ...

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

Contact Alastair Thompson

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